This was my first time attempting this trail. To be honest, I was a little scared because it isn’t one of your typical well-known hikes, and I didn’t know the exact route. You start off at the Paradise parking lot, walk pass the Lyon Arboretum on your left, continue down the Manoa Falls trail. Then you cross the bridge, up a few steps, and then you make a right into the trees. At this point, you’re unsure as to where to go but you just continue. Keep your eyes peeled for the pink ribbons on the trees. It’s a muddy trail so make sure to tie your shoelaces tightly. Eventually you have to cross the stream several times, and at this point you don’t care if your shoes get wet because it’s easier to walk in the water than trying to carefully stay dry. You’ll cross a mini waterfall before getting to the main one. When we finally arrived, it was so beautiful. It started to mist and rain, which was just perfectly refreshing. We found wild hog hoof prints in the mud, skinks and coqui frogs. The return was quick, and all you have to do is walk the stream. Overall, a great hike!
Kayla M.
Classificação do local: 3 Sonoma, CA
Went on a journey today to find some of the other waterfalls of Manoa falls. In total– there are 6 waterfalls within an approximate 1 – 2 mile radius of the popular, highly traveled, tourist trap known as Manoa Falls. When traversing the web, it is difficult to find any information explaining how to find this hidden gem and I couldn’t understand why, until now. After taking approx 3 hrs to do a hike that shouldn’t have taken more than 1.5 hours, I’m still uncertain on how to efficiently find this waterfall. My best advice is to Park at the Manoa falls parking lot and start the trail. Then, pull up your Google maps and locate the Lua’alaea stream and do some bush wacking on the way to the stream and then you will finally find the trail marked with pink ribbons going upstream. On the way we found an old tree house with a cooler– thankfully it was empty lol. After approx 30 minutes walking near the stream on the trail, we first encountered the lower fall. If u walk to the left of the falls up a short hill and for approx 1 minute you reach the upper waterfall. I heard this is definitely not a place you want to be when a flash flood occurs. On the way back we actually walked through the old ‘paradise park’ which was pretty amazing but also creepy as hell at the same time. So, if your trying to avoid the tourist trap of Manoa falls and up for possibly getting lost in the woods– then I recommend this hike for you. I will be back In the future to try to find the other 4 waterfalls!
